This project of a 164 km long concrete barrier will “control” illegal immigration and crime, according to the Dominican President.
Le Monde with AFP
Promised a year ago by the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, the construction of a wall along the border of his country with Haiti was launched with great pomp, Sunday 20 February, in the area border of Dajabon (Northwest).
This barrier “will benefit both countries, as it will make it possible to control bilateral trade a lot more effectively, to regulate migratory flows to combat human trafficking mafias, fight against drug trafficking and sales. Illegal of arms, “said ABINADER,” said, elected in July 2020 and whose fight against illegal immigration is one of the battle horses.
The work will cost $ 31 million (approximately 27 million euros) and last nine months. The first step launched Sunday will have 54 kilometers of fence “in the most populated and sensitive areas of the border”, according to the president. A second step will prolong the wall of 110 km. The wall will extend on 164 of the 380 kilometers of the porous border between the two neighbors who share the island of Hispaniola.
Nearly 4 meters high, seventy towers of monitoring
The reinforced concrete wall on which will be laid a metal structure will be up 3.90 meters and thick 20 centimeters. There will be, added the army, seventy towers of monitoring and control.
“The serious institutional and security crisis in Haiti has led its population to a concern of political and social instability, as well as an endemic economic and food crisis,” said Abinader, The jolts that Haiti cross from the assassination of President Jovenel Moses on July 7th.
“Every time Hayi suffered a disaster, we, the Dominicans, have always been the first to help him. However, the Dominican Republic can not take charge of the political and economic crisis of this country or Solving the rest of his problems, “he said. This crisis “must be surmounted by the Haitians themselves and supported by the international community,” he added.
“xenophobia and racism”
Migrants’ defense organizations criticize the construction of the wall, considering it will cause “xenophobia and racism”. The Mayor of Dajabon, Santiago Riveron, told the France-Presse agency that he did not agree “with this type of wall”, because “the real wall is that of the economy” and corruption, accusing “military to cash bribes of 100 or 200 pesos [2 or 4 dollars]” by clandestine immigrant.
The Dominican Republic (10.5 million) welcomes some 500,000 Haitians in the search for better living conditions among the neighbor much more prosperous, according to the national immigrant survey.